


With this ring

by Glowing_dimp_as_an_ember



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Corpse Bride AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-10
Updated: 2016-12-12
Packaged: 2018-09-07 15:40:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8806630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glowing_dimp_as_an_ember/pseuds/Glowing_dimp_as_an_ember
Summary: The results of some misunderstandings can turn out to be pretty deadly...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ((I hope this doesn't generally suck...which I doubt is a thing but still))

Nico wasn’t sure why he had agreed to any of this and, to be honest, he wasn’t sure he really wanted to hear the answer, especially since the rocky movements of the old carriage made it already difficult to think straight. The black haired let out a quiet sigh in defeat as he let his glance wander through the rather depressing scenery that seemed to greet the vehicle he, his little sister and his father were in. The day, even if it was supposed to be a bright summer evening, had started being nothing but a rainy period of time, the formless drops of water washing away the colors of the environment, only gray around them all, everything had been taken away by the inhospitable climate… Everything except the bad mood he was in.

He recalled the night his father had told him the so called great news, of course he disagreed with how he referred to them as soon as they got to come out of his lips: he was now engaged to some girl from a neighbor town. She was apparently the daughter of a rather wealthy family, respectable in more than just one aspect, sentiment that only grew as every generation had at least two victorious veterans of war, feared and honored, treated almost as well as royalty. Nico was not happy at all with the arrangement his father had made without a previous talk, not at all, and he pointed that out that same night multiple times, shouts and screams being the only hearable thing in their house for hours. Their argument couldn’t last forever though, the black haired knew that as he reluctantly accepted to play along with the plan as he remembered the conversation he heard his father have with some other members of the company he had funded years ago, a long while before he was even born. He knew why the sudden actions came from, he knew why they were now on a ride to the mansion of some family his father knew prior…the incidents, he knew but he wouldn’t say it, particularly now that small Hazel seemed to be enjoying herself, oblivious of everything that was happening.

They were facing bankrupt.

* * *

The day passed along with almost no casualties, at least that was the case until it was the time for them all to meet the members of the family they were bound to be officially related within a couple of moons. He wouldn’t deny it, his now fiancé, Reyna, was not bad looking, the fierce spirit visible on his eyes reinforced the idea of strength her ancestors’ legacy formed in the minds of everyone who heard of them, no one being the exception. Apparently his little sister had the same concept of her as his, not failing to tell the girl how beautiful she thought she looked, especially when her hair was braided in such a delicate way, to which the other simply laughed light heartedly, thanking Hazel quietly, offering to show her around the place, offer that the small one couldn’t decline. To his bad luck, Reyna’s family wasn’t as easy to be with as her, the silence she offered was not awkward unlike the one he was suffering through at the time, one that had been the result of a badly placed comment. That plus his inability to retain some idiotic sentences, some meaningless couple of words and phrases were the cause of his suffering, one that, he betted, was the current source of entertainment of the major forces of life.

_This is certainly not worth it._ He thought as his hands morphed into fists, his knuckles growing pale and bloodless on the inside. He didn’t think he would live through it, couldn’t possibly stand another minute in that hellhole…less alone the time the preparations of the weeding would last. Nico simply dislike the idea, so as soon as the other round of death glares and snarky comments about his self and his lack of comprise, he rushed out of the room, out of the house, not even looking back when he heard the soft call of his sister.

_I can’t._

* * *

“Why do I have to practice some stupid vows now? That dumb wedding won’t happen until a couple of weeks…” He muttered under his breath as he made his way towards the furthest part of the gardens, where a forgotten and rotten fence fusing with what would have probably considered a tree once, melting with the dark forest of outside town. The black haired sat down, not carrying if his clothes got muddy or got small scratches that would probably be more visible in the light of the day. He wasn’t good for any of this, his father most likely knew that as well, but it was not as if they had any other option or choices, his sister was still too young…and he was the only one left.

He put his right hand inside the pocket of his pants, carefully, in a rather slow manner, taking out the elegant silver ring that his father had placed on his palm the day before the whole trip started. It was hers, he had said with sadness filling his words. His mother’s wedding ring shinned brilliantly in the pale moonlight, reflecting the shadows of the woods but also mirroring the clouds on the sky. He wished he could see her with the it though, now the object looked alone and lifeless, empty, reminding him of what he had lost, all that he once had and now didn’t. The black haired wondered what would she said if she were with him, by his side. Would she had approved of the arrangement his father had made? Would she had done something different? Would the whole deal be nothing more than a faint idea in the back of their minds? It was in vain asking stud like that to the winds though, no one would ever answer, especially not who he wished for. He knew his parents had met that way: an arrangement marriage, one so sudden yet so full of love that made him wish for something like that…until h discovered that everything has to end and that the most beautiful things end in horrible manners, in the most gruesome ways one could ever think.

Now, the jewel was meant to another, a new owner: his future wife, a new bride that would carry a ring that once meant a union that even death couldn’t break, one that yet broke as soon as he was less than a kid. Nico wished he could ask his mother how she felt when she was on a similar place.

_When people pressured her to learn unnecessary stuff just for their entertainment._ He thought bitterly as he stared at the silvery object, biting the inside of his cheek to contain the feeling of anxiety crawling on his stomach.

“With… With this hand…” He began shakily, his mind going to Hazel, who was most likely insisting on searching for him. If he didn’t do this, she would suffer the consequences too, she would suffer…because of him and his selfish methods. “With this hand, I’ll lift your sorrows.” The black haired slowly stood up, dusting his pants rather quickly as he made his way towards the old tree that marked the beginning of the lands of the nature, letting his eyes wander around to calm himself. He could remember them, he would…for his family, for his sister who had had already passed through a lot and who didn’t deserve to receive another strike from life. “Your cup will never empty for I’ll be your wine.” He thought of the family he once had, of the vows his mother made, identical as the ones he was currently saying to himself, now they had something else in common, a connection besides of the fact that their shared the same blood. “With this candle, I will light your way in darkness.” The air hit his face, sending some locks of hair to his cover his eyes, though that didn’t stop him from walking further. Maybe he should have listened to the silent warning. “With this ring, I ask you to be mine.”

The black haired couldn’t help but to crack a little, almost unnoticeable, side smile, one that was wiped of his face when the earth underneath his feet started trembling violently. His eyes widened, quickly taking some steps back, each and every single one of them making the ground move faster, fissures starting to appear around the portion of land he was standing on, sharp noises surrounding him. Nico wasn’t sure when he stopped being conscious of what was happening but the last thing he felt as an ice cold sensation slowly making its way to his body, starting from his right arm, sensing his fingers weakening around the ring as the uncomfortable touch froze his body, limbs and nerves; the last thing he saw, a flash of a pale shade of blue and white; the last thing he heard before he started falling towards the ground, a quiet whisper.

“I knew you would come back.”


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing the brown eyed felt when he came back to his senses was a hand, or at least he assumed that was what was in contact with his skin, passing though his hair, rearranging the locks, occasionally brushing his forehead carefully, as if the owner were afraid to disturb his sleep. Faint sound of murmurs and voices started to make its way towards his ears shortly after, even though he couldn’t distinguish any of them nor the words they were saying, just the noises coming out from mouths and faces he couldn’t yet see, his eyelids covering everything in a dark blur.

“Do you think he is alright?” He heard being asked in concern, distress and worry obvious in the tone the question was spoken. In a way, it sounded somehow familiar. But when had he heard it before? And why couldn’t he opened his eyes? He, who usually liked the warm feeling darkness could bring to anyone who knew how to embrace it, found himself almost desperately searching for any source of light facing his eyelids, the blackness around him slowly driving him to the brink of insanity.

“He’s probably just in shock, nothing out of the usual then.” Other male said, words coming out in a carefree, almost joyful way, not really finding whatever situation he saw in front of him to be worrying whatsoever.

“He still have some color…” A female voice soon intervened in the conversation, her sentence trailing of in a wondering tone, slowly coming closer to where the black haired would have assumed he was laying down. He asked mentally how far the three individuals would be, for him to hear their voices but not nearly enough for him to catch the faint sound of their breathing, not feeling the warm air that he had expected with the proximity.

“Not everyone has to be as white as a paper as soon as they arrive.” The second one he heard spoke once more, the words coming out with something he couldn’t quite place, somewhere between annoyance and entertainment, his dialog holding no mean or harsh feelings but an innocent mock.

“You are just jealous I looked flawless.” The woman pronounced gracefully, possibly with a graceful but witty smile adorning her features. A soft chuckle made its way across the darkness, the only thing his eyes could yet perceive, of the room, tinkling like brand new silver bells, delicate and innocent. It reminded him of Hazel.

He felt himself tensing at the thought, his muscles doing more effort than what they should, every fiber of his body aching nonstop and without mercy, finding a cure for its boredom with the inflected pain. Hazel. Where was she? Was she alright? Why wasn’t she around? He remembered passing out in the woods outside the area where the house they were staying was located, he was probably in one of the rooms right now, being attended and nursed back to health. The black haired wondered if that was one of the reasons for why she was absent on the picture, why he hadn’t heard her worried rant about self-preservation yet, why she hadn’t held his hand between hers, pleading quietly to get better for them to talk once more.  

Nico began twitching, jerking that quickly escalated, passing to be rather forceful and abrupt. He could sense his eyeballs moving frantically behind his eyelids, slowly ungluing, no longer saw to each other but rather free enough to move with life on its own, not depending on any other piece of skin anymore.

“Shh…” The first voice hushed the others, silencing the discussion they both seemed to be having about something he hadn’t quite grasp. “I think he’s waking up”

Just in that exact moment, his eyes opened as if bound to a spell, his glance still a lazy blur but clear enough for him to see three shadows leaning over him, one with what he could assume was curly hair having an arm extended towards him, his unfocussed fingertips tracing his features in the air from a respectable distance.

He tried to rub his eyes to get rid of the fogginess of his stare, but his arms still felt numb and unresponsive. “Wha-?” The black haired started in a rusty voice, having to interrupt himself midsentence, cutting the question, to clear his throat noisily, with what sounded like a worrying hawk that would have probably left his sister wincing unconsciously. “Where am I?”

The sudden appearance of noise made him the center of attention once more, all sounds near him dying down, the silence had been finally broken, though the awkward next seconds of nothing made him wonder if he should have just kept quiet at least for some more couple of minutes.

“Oh, you are here! You are finally here!” The other, who he now recognized as the owner of the first voice he had heard, said in an excited manner, having forgotten composure as the black haired soon found himself being surrounded by a pair of almost frozen arms. “I knew you would return, I knew you would come back…”

Nico opened his mouth to speak, no sound leaving from his vocal chords whatsoever despite his best efforts to make himself heard, his voice suddenly gone again, he still being dumbfounded by the situation, confused beyond explanation.

“No need to say anything, I bet you are tired anyway. I mean, you did quite hit yourself while we were up there.” He caught was being said near his ear, the tight but somehow still careful embrace still going, although he was slowly getting used to the coldness emanating from the other side, barely flinching when a chin rested against one of his shoulders, neither did his body reacted badly when he felt a pair of lips pressed against it, something that sounded like a muffled lullaby reaching for him.

“Up there?” He asked quietly, not fully trusting his voice to just work how he wanted it to. Nor when he wanted, afraid that his doubts would never be heard and, consequently, properly answered.

The other let out a giggle, a soft noise that he was certain wouldn’t have been heard if the companions he had previously identified had resumed his discussion. “Well, of course, dummy. Our meeting place, under the big old tree.” Was his sole response, one that was so full of love and care that he couldn’t help but wonder if that was how his mother used to address his now only parental figure. The black haired could definitely see that being the case. In the few paintings around the house that featured her, she looked like a joyful, kind, but not because of that weak, person, that meant he wouldn’t throw away the opportunity to tease his father when she thought he might either need it or deserve it.

_Not now_ , he thought to himself as he tried to separate himself from the haunting memories, there were other things, questions without an answer, that needed his immediate attention at the time.

“Wh-Where am I?” The brown eyed questioned to no one in particular, if any one, not matter who, could give him that respond, who was he to judge? He tried blinking a couple of times to clear his sight, even though he had tried that shortly after he had awaken, maybe now that wouldn’t his brain cells were more active, he could get a different result. Nico wouldn’t deny that he found himself feeling something in between anger, annoyance and frustration when it didn’t work, once more his organism failed to listen to his own commands.

“Darling? Are you feeling okay?” He registered confusion in the other’s tone, concern being not too hard to find either. Why was there so much worry and longing in every word he had spoken? The black haired certainly didn’t connect that voice with a face yet, he was uncertain he had ever seen a face to relate to it before, to be honest. Was he supposed to know that person? That being that probably was looking at him as if his life depended on it, on him responding, on him talking, on him just…being there.

A cold hand with weird texture found its way towards his cheek, involuntarily making him yelp under his breath, jolting abruptly in a rough way due to the weirdness of the contact. The skin that was placed against his was weird, to say the least, in every way one could possibly think so. First, it was its temperature, Nico was certain it was impossible for someone to have as much warmth in their bodies as a hypothermia victim, the fingertips dead to the touch, not even artificially recreating the feeling usual he had whenever Hazel held his hand at night on their walk back home from the flower fields nor the times when his sister used to pull him into a hug whenever he had a bad dream. Another worrying thing was the texture, how worn off and unnatural the small caresses felt, nothing like what one would normally expect but something entirely different, something else and that not being meant in a flattering way. The skin of the hand he felt was uneven, it was nothing like touching a section of body with scars though, deep clefts would meet his face from time to time, ones that seemed to go straight into the bones, along with the sensation of cracks and fissures that he had a hard time figuring out.

His sight decided to clear out at that exact moment, his eyes meeting the figure of an unknown guy with messy blond hair, dirty but not in a gross way, although it looked abnormal in terms he couldn’t really explain. The other apparently noticed Nico’s tension as he soon found himself staring at a pair of blue eyes, surprisingly lacking the usual brightness one’s irises would have, a shadow of dullness hovering over them, no glim whatsoever but darkness that engulfed life itself.

The black haired looked around quickly. He couldn’t recognize the room he was in, not in the slightest, it was too dark for it to be the health wing but, at the same time, way too bright for it to be a guest’s bedroom. He narrowed his eyes slightly as he tried to concentrate on the little details that maybe could give him a clue of his current localization. He could see some neon lights near the back, his mind couldn’t read it yet though, his brain cells apparently still were half asleep to some extent, probably numbed by all the time he had been out, yellow balls of light also being visible near the background, handing over what he assumed were antique wooden tables.

“I-I need to go back.” He stuttered as he tried to get rid of the hold that the other had on him, shifting, each time more violently, in hopes to get free of the unwanted embrace than got tighter and tighter with every second that blew by.

“B-Back? But you have just arrived.” The other said dumbfounded, shock evident by the sudden stiffness of his body, his long fingers stopping the caresses they had been giving him abruptly. “Besides, is not as if you really can go back just like that…”

Nico narrowed his eyes after hearing that. Who did the blond think he was? Telling him what to do like that was not something he was going to let slide, he still wondered though what had he meant by that. Go back just like that? He really doubt he was more than just a couple of streets away, he had seen, after all, a couple of old looking inns on his way to town, each of them not so far for their siblings and relatives that served the same purpose. Because where else could he be? The black haired couldn’t think of any other possible answers for that.

“Dear, I know this can be shocking but try to calm down…” The blue eyed interrupted his line of thought carefully, as if he was dealing with a scared, wounded animal, any step being crucial, one wrong placed one probably leading to an undesired path.

 “Who are you anyway?” The black haired technically spitted exasperatedly, his nerves crisped in ways he hadn’t experienced in years. Not since the accident he had tried to, although not forget, live with in peace, not in self-load like in all those nights he had spent locked in his room, not having the energy to face the outside.

The blond’s jaw dropped, unable to form any coherent sentence as his mouth opened and closed repeatedly , reminding him of the small goldfish his sister used to own when she was younger, even though seeing the expression in a being that was not an animal but rather a human like him was simply ridiculous.

“Wh-Who? You mean you don’t…?” The other trailed off only a couple of seconds after he had appeared to finally find his voice, a slight frown starting to make its way towards his features, which had already looked pained previously but now, as unbelievable as Nico found it, looked way worse, more broken than before, holding a level of hopelessness that he didn’t think was possible. Another thing in life he had been wrong about. His blue eyes suddenly widened, a whirlwind of emotions underneath the pale mask the other had quickly put, or at least tried to, on to hide his thoughts and wishes now long gone in what the black haired assumed was certainly not the first time. He wasn’t sure if it was for the look on his face, the scowl or the evident frown, but his companion suddenly bolted from his position, standing up as fast as he could, taking a couple of steps back as an extra measure. “Oh, I’m so sorry, you…reminded me of someone.”

Part of him almost felt guilty, bad for the blond. Almost. He had to set his priorities straight, and right now he didn’t have time to deal with other’s people problems, especially not random strangers who didn’t understand the concept of boundaries. If his mind hadn’t been set elsewhere, he was sure he would have attempted to push the guy, maybe even punch him for the weird gesture he certainly was not expecting. Who would he have reminded him off anyway? Yes, the town wasn’t too small but it wasn’t way too big either, it was hard not to know someone, if not by the name, by face would usually do, at least that’s what he got while wandering around the empty streets as soon as he could set free from his father.

“You never did answer my question.” Nico broke the awkward moment, earning a death glare from the two people who were now standing beside the blond, one on each side, one give a comforting hand placed on the sad looking guy that had previously invaded his privacy. That’s when he noticed something, when he became aware of all the thing he hadn’t been conscious about in his worried state.

The two of them, he realized, had a weird complexion generally speaking, their body, if one looked carefully, was slightly disproportionate on the sides, where their ribs were placed. No, he didn’t mean that they were deformed, it was something else entirely: the bones could be seen, the whitish shade of them visible against a portion of pale skin, having the impression that they would pop out in any moment. Now, that wouldn’t have been weird if the effect mirrored somewhere near perfectly, but that wasn’t the case, giving the illusion that something inside was missing, muscle tissue being the most probable and rational answer.

He came to really see other peculiar things as well, like how dry scratches seemed to adorn the arms and limbs of the pair, scars not fully healed, ones that seemed to be frozen in time, layers of skin missing that wouldn’t come back, surrounded by a grayish coloration, the edges looking as if they hadn’t been treated when they would have been. They didn’t seem to mind though. They didn’t seem to mind how sunken and dry their eyes were, almost the same condition the blond’s were, almost lifeless.

The black haired wasn’t sure how he ended up fixing his attention back again on the owner of the first voice he had heard in wherever he had woken up, air caught on his throat, making him feel for a couple of seconds as if he was chocking. He wished he hadn’t look, he would have probably lived in ignorance if he had ignored his curiosity. Even when his head wasn’t fully turned at him, Nico’s glance registered something curious about the other’s face: not did it just lacked of color, an unnatural white painting his skin, bringing up the brownish spots on his arms and face, along with the delicate freckles on his cheeks, the right section of it had a wave of blue crawling to almost reach his eye. No, it wasn’t like a dry paint or anything he had seen before, it was as of the veins and blood vessels had given in to an invisible pressure, cobalt pigments splattered around randomly, intersected every once in a while by roots the same color that went through underneath his features, creeping to get to a portion of his lips, to claim as much territory as possible.

He caught on a small detail shortly after, one so small but yet so important that part of him couldn’t believe he had missed it, that he hadn’t put two and two together, figure it out on his own. It started to make sense, how they had been close enough for him to hear clearly but he couldn’t feel warmth on a breath, why the silence had been not the kind he had been used to since he was a child. It was a simple detail, indeed it was, but the meaning of its level of truth…that was a whole new different story.

Their chests didn’t move an inch.

The brown eyed figuring that, though, didn’t mean he was ready to hear anything about it, not yet, probably not ever. Fate wasn’t that considerate to him.

“Welcome to the land of the dead.”

**Author's Note:**

> [I'm also on tumblr](http://glowing-dimp-as-an-ember.tumblr.com/)


End file.
